Microsoft offers free usage of Outlook for Mac

Free things are the best things in the world. So if you are a Mac user you can use Outlook for free today. You can now use Outlook without a Microsoft 365 subscription or Office license by downloading it for free from the Apple App Store. It's a surprising move that fits with Microsoft's efforts to upgrade the web capabilities of its Outlook email client for Windows desktop.

Support for Outlook.com accounts, Gmail, iCloud, Yahoo, and any IMAP-enabled email provider is available in Outlook for Mac. Microsoft redesigned its Mac email client in 2020, with a user interface that’s optimized for Apple’s latest macOS design changes.

Additionally, Outlook for Mac supports native notification center functionality and has a macOS widget for calendar entries that is optimized for M1 and M2 chips. You can pick up tasks where you left off between iOS and Mac devices thanks to Outlook for Mac's support for handoff with iOS.

The main Outlook for Mac app will soon include a menu bar peek option that will allow users to quickly view calendar entries. Additionally, the software developer intends to support Apple's Focus experience with new Outlook Profiles that will be released soon.

Microsoft's move to make Outlook for Mac free comes as the company is in the middle of rebuilding its Outlook for Windows app. The new "One Outlook" app is essentially Outlook.com as a Progressive Web App (PWA). It will also be free and support a variety of email providers.

However, there are no plans to update Outlook for Mac to a progressive web app. Microsoft plans to continue building and maintaining native apps on macOS and iOS.